Travellers foodbank challenge.

[Devilesko]

Posting for traffic and suggestions.

We have started the fb challenge again this year as it's needed more than ever.
We challenge family members to buy an extra weeks worth of food and donate to food banks. Nobody is left out, we all have to rise to the challenge and want to, tbh.

I have posted on dozens of pages asking to remember to include san pro.
If anyone has suggestions that might be forgotten, I'd appreciate the heads up. Also, just to let the people in supermarkets and food banks aware, as this is usually done on such a big scale.

So far I have family in Leicester and Cheshire signing up. But will post other areas as I become aware.
Any suggestions will be very helpful.
Tia.

I do a little every month. Less than a coffee a week adds up to a week or more shopping over the year , but I find it easier. ( I am not a traveller )

There are so many people who are struggling and it's inhuman that one of the richest societies in the world has hungry poorly fed children

An average weekly shop for 2 adults in the UK costs £55.

All of you that say you couldn't afford to give a weeks shop, can you really not spare an average £1 a week to the foodbank?

Or are you just exaggerating because the OP mentioned travellers?

Most food banks produce lists of what they need, updated regularly.
My local doesn’t want pasta or tinned tomatoes, but tinned meat is in short supply.And baby formula.

@Breakupcharlie

I think the OP is boasting that her and her traveller family are donating a weeks worth of shopping.

I used to volunteer in a food bank that worked out of an old community theatre hall/town hall. The whole hall was stacked I.e 1000 packets of spaghetti. However big your donation is going to be it will be most welcomed but they won’t need the heads up - unless you’re dropping a lorry load at one food bank session.

However, it will be most welcomed and while it should be a thankless task, it will happy out a few families.

Maybe add advent calendars? The food bank I used to volunteer at we used to make hampers off treats for families and drop them off at their houses on Xmas eve - celebrations, nice crackers, small turkey, bottles of pop etc.

Just remember you can’t donate things that need to go in a fridge/freezer. Baby weaning food is usually low.

It's interesting you say about the advent calendars as the foodbank I volunteer at is the opposite - we get loads of advent calendars and mince pies and nice Christmas bits that we struggle to give them away! And because people are donating these things the donations of standard food actually fall.

Also, anything like that needs to be donated really early. We get loads of advent calendars right at the end of November (or even in December) but that's too late to help most people.

@myhobbyisouting

An average weekly shop for 2 adults in the UK costs £55.

All of you that say you couldn't afford to give a weeks shop, can you really not spare an average £1 a week to the foodbank?

Or are you just exaggerating because the OP mentioned travellers?

The racist sentiment is awful, but TBF I think OP is talking about a week’s worth in one go, which would be beyond the financial capabilities of many people at the moment.

I thought the post was pretty clear.

It's really pretty shameful that, given that travellers usually get unanimously vilified and have all sorts of accusations thrown at them. Yet, here is an example of the community doing a lovely thing and, surprise surprise, people are still finding negatives in that. I'd be willing to bet that the responses would have been very different if 'traveller' wasn't mentioned in the original post.

"Bloody hell, an extra week’s worth is a huge ask and beyond most of us. Your family must be minted.
I’ll just continue with my £5 a week challenge."

@WitchFindersAreEverywhere so you'll donate £260 to the foodbank over the year but because the challenge involves donating a weekly shop ONCE it's a huge ask?

Presumably the op knows a lot of people who can donate a weeks worth of food. In which case of course go ahead and ask!! Obviously anyone who doesn’t have that spare won’t.
Def cunt 5 for the win comments wise, just as a great phrase Might need it next week.

Please don’t nag people as it makes people who can’t do it feel bad. We’ll buy £5-10 worth when we can afford it but I’d feel annoyed if I felt obliged to.

Surely it depends on what area you are in what the food bank will want, as some seem to get more of some items than others. Our collection box in the local supermarket lists the items they most need.

What a bunch of racist knee-jerk responses.

Also a bit thick.. Some people doing this challenge may be very generous (good on them), but maybe some don't regularly donate, so say you donate a fiver's worth each week or month, over a year that adds up to more than a week's worth of shopping?!

Good on you OP. I always put in something that would work for packed lunches as well.

It's worth asking local food Bank what they short of as will differ area to area, I'm sure you only nominating people who can afford it, good luck

Wishing you luck, OP.

People who can't afford a full week's shop could just donate what they can afford, even if it's only one extra item. If everyone did that, it would soon add up.

I always try to include things like deodorant and shower gels. At Christmas some selection boxes and things too.

I agree for most people a weeks shopping in one go would be unrealistic but it is nice to donate what you can when you can.

On a similar note for anyone who shops with Tesco you can donate your clubcard points to the trussel trust or fair share to help people out that way - handy if like me your not physically going to shops this year so can’t throw bits in the trolleys

@TingTastic

Just how many people can afford to buy 2 weeks worth of shopping in one go (one to donate and one to keep)?!!

I could maybe stretch to it, but I'm a single person who eats a fair amount of higher priced brands. If I switched everything to value brands instead, I could probably buy double for not a lot more. Definitely couldn't do it regularly though.

@Devilesko

Posting for traffic and suggestions.

We have started the fb challenge again this year as it's needed more than ever.
We challenge family members to buy an extra weeks worth of food and donate to food banks. Nobody is left out, we all have to rise to the challenge and want to, tbh.

I have posted on dozens of pages asking to remember to include san pro.
If anyone has suggestions that might be forgotten, I'd appreciate the heads up. Also, just to let the people in supermarkets and food banks aware, as this is usually done on such a big scale.

So far I have family in Leicester and Cheshire signing up. But will post other areas as I become aware.
Any suggestions will be very helpful.
Tia.

I would suggest because of the actual volume that will be donated in such a short time that you all try to balance how much fresh or short use items are added as if it goes as well as you hope they will have stock to last a while.

I know fresh stuff isn’t as common but just in case.

Fwiw, I have just spent a lot of hours sorting out food bank donations from various harvest festivals that were given to the charity where I volunteer.
We had loads of tinned soup, baked beans, dried pasta and packets of biscuits.
We were especially short of meat products, so tins of stew, chicken, tinned suet puddings etc. Most of the meat products we got were pork based, so Spam, hot dog sausages etc which many of our families can't eat. We could've also done with more longlife milk, longlife juice, breakfast cereal, tinned veg and pasta sauces.
Hope that helps!

I think it is a lovely thing for a community to do. Church communities could do this by bringing things to their church, the rub is affording a weeks worth of food I know a few folk in my circle who could do this but many others could not. It works in the travellers community it appears kudos to them. In Conwy a cafe has asked folk to bring in whatever they can afford, he is then sorting going out in his van to give to existing food banks. It is working staggeringly well.

Well done OP, it’s nice to see a section of the community that is often villified making a contribution.
I do have to say though that a lot of people can’t afford to do this and given a lot of people’s perceptions of Travellers I don’t think this will go down well in some quarters

Crossed posts with myhobby

@Fluffycloudland77

Because right now buying us one weeks food shopping is hard enough without being asked to double it up that’s why.

No-one is asking you to!!

OP is asking for suggestions of things they may not have thought of to include in HER and other Traveller families' foodbank initiative.

She is also publicising it (presumably not just on mumsnet) so that foodbanks and supermarkets are aware donations are coming.

I think the post is pretty clear if you read it properly, but I see why people may have assumed they were being asked to participate, as that's a more normal mumsnet-type post!

It's a wonderful idea.

"The racist sentiment is awful, but TBF I think OP is talking about a week’s worth in one go, which would be beyond the financial capabilities of many people at the moment."

Well yes, but to the traveller community the challenge hasn't come as a surprise. They do it every year.

Those who are saying they can't afford that and the fake shock (followed with I donate £5 a week it's all I can afford ) are being deliberately obtuse.

@Devilesko is saying she's suggested on her family fbook groups that people remember to add sanitary products and is asking for other suggestions.

So rather than taking the opportunity to have a dig at travellers maybe pps could come up with a suggestion to help people who are starving right now in their own communities

To be honest if you’re donating a weeks shopping for a huge family I’d just donate the cash instead, that way the food bank can buy what they need, put petrol in the van, pay their electric bill or whatever.

Great campaign - well done all the Travellers who have taken part!

I used to work a lot with Travellers and I always used to say: there are those that I disliked and those I was privileged to call friends - and that is exactly the same as with the rest of the population.

I was very aware of their charitable good works.

Brilliant idea - and so generous.